The Cankar Award for best original literary work of the past year has been bestowed since 2019 by the Slovenian PEN Centre, the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts SAZU, the University of Ljubljana and the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ZRC SAZU. This year, the jury shortlisted five books, among them our author Aleš Šteger and his monumental work Written on Site.
Aleš Šteger (1973) is one of Slovenia's best known and most translated contemporary writers. Author of more than 20 books of poetry, prose and essays, as well as books for young adults, he also works as an editor and translator, and is a prolific contributor to artistic and cultural events in Slovenia.
Šteger about Written on Site:
Each year from 2012-2023, I have chosen one place on earth and fixed a date where I would write in a public space, interacting with the people and stories around me. The writing goes on for 12 consecutive hours. I have nothing written beforehand. No Internet connection. No books or other kind of backup or help. The text I write is published in Slovenian within 24 hours and my rule is that I don't have the right to change or interfere with the text once the 12 hours of writing are up and I send it to the printer. While writing I also take photographs. The outcome is always as close as literary writing can get to a place. It is a Zen-like self-test in listening to the inner voice — a nightmare situation for writers like me who mostly work in peace and allow ourselves endless drafts and corrections to the stuff we work on. No corrections in this case: instead pure fragility of text, brutality and beauty of unforeseen encounters, true life, unpredictability.
